Second Great Awakening

The Second Great Awakening was mainly a religious “awakening” to an awareness of the welfare of souls. More importantly, it was an awakening to the state of America in many aspects; religion was just one aspect.

The revival mentality was important. It gave the American people the idea that something needed to be changed, that something could be changed. Various reform movements followed: reform in prisons, reform in public education, reform in temperance, reform in the slave system, and even reform in society in general to name a few.

Prisons were changed to give criminals at least humane living conditions. Asylums were created to help people reform themselves and become acceptable to society. Public education went through reforms to give children education in tax-supported state school systems. Discipline was as important as academic subjects taught in these schools. The temperance movement arose because it was seen as liberating to be the master of your own self and not be tied down to any addiction (to alcohol or anything else). Reform in any area, in fact, was seen as liberating yourself because having the self-discipline to control yourself gave you the ability to expand your freedom.

A few communities wished to reform themselves so completely that they left society. The Shakers, the New Harmony community, and the Oneida community wished to create a Utopia, or a perfect community. The Oneidians and the Owenites fell apart after a few years. The Shakers, however, still have vibrant communities. These communities, which set up completely new ways of life, were the extremists. Not everyone saw the need to go so far.

Americans, in the midst of all this reform and revival, also saw the need to reform the slave system. Not everyone agreed on how to do this. Some wanted to send all the slaves to a colony in Africa. Others wished to free the slaves on the spot. Southern plantation owners didn’t want to get rid of their slaves; to them, slavery meant profit.

The second Great Awakening set the stage for this climatic conflict over slavery. Many, many diverse interpretations of the Bible came forth because so many new preachers, so many new versions of religion emerged.

Sectional differences came from different interpretations of the Bible. Southern preachers interpreted the Bible as promoting slavery. Northern preachers condemned it. The Bible quickly became a battleground long before the Civil War was actually fought. The various interpretations of the same passages of scripture led to confusion and heated arguments. For the first time, every ordinary American citizen was forced to think about the institution of slavery and decide for himself whether or not he agreed with it. Mark A. Noll, in his book America’s God stated, “Commonsense moral reasoning perceived directly and intuitively the propriety of the slave system and perceived with equal force its impropriety.”

Americans were forced to choose. They generally sided with their regional generalities. The Northerners did not depend on a slave-driven economy. They saw slavery as wrong. The Southerners did depend on slavery. They interpreted the Bible so as to support their arguments that slavery could exist.

All these arguments arose from the Second Great Awakening. It changed the way religion was viewed. It forever changed the course of American History in regards to slavery, and many other aspects.